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High Notes, Vol 25 No 34, November 01 2024

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Tuyvan Mai (9R) who has been awarded ‘Highly Commended’ for his short film Finding a skill, in the 2024 Youth Photographic Award and Short Film Prize competition. This film was made as part of the beginner filmmaking studies Unit and the student project was to make an autobiographical film.

Scholarships Offered at High

SBHS offers only two scholarships – the Phillip Day Memorial Scholarship and the Sir Roden and Lady Cutler Foundation Scholarship. All enrolled or enrolling students are eligible to apply for the Phillip Day Memorial Scholarship. It is a one-year credit on the school account for $1,750. The Selection Criteria cover talented boys in an academic area or a co-curricular endeavour. Good all-rounders qualify as do students with special needs – financial or otherwise. There are many boys in the school who would make good candidates for this award. I urge them to take the trouble to download and complete the application form. The Sir Roden and Lady Cutler Foundation Inc Scholarship is a two-year award with a credit at the school account for $1,500 for each Year – 11 and 12. Only boys enrolled or enrolling in Year 11 are eligible to apply. The criteria for this scholarship are different. It has an emphasis on a prior record of service to others, to the school and / or the community. Boys with initiative, compassion, a record of school or community service and leadership skills, are invited to apply.

Look for the details on the school's community website and select from the navigation bar. Do not assume that you are not worthy or eligible. Applications close on Friday 29 November 2024.

Interpreting Year 11 Reports Semester 2

Teachers record individual marks for courses, and these are run against an ATAR predictor program. All the raw marks are converted into scaled marks per unit. In the iterative scaling process, students’ marks in one course are compared against all the other students who completed the same course and against their performances in their other courses. The data we use are last year’s HSC results for High. The essential comparative assumption is that boys will perform at around the same standard this year as they did last year. Means and standard deviations are derived from our HSC results from the previous year and applied to our results in the current year. A scaled score out of 50 is calculated for each course on a one-unit basis. Where candidatures are very small – eg visual arts and LOTE- we use historical results in that course in our school to calculate the mean and standard deviation to be applied to this year’s results. We use all 12 Preliminary Units to calculate our ATAR estimate for several reasons. First, we would like students to receive a realistic appraisal of their progress in state terms as well as relative to their peers at High. Second, we want them to know their relative performance in each of their courses, to inform their subsequent choices. Third, it assists them to drop their weakest two units on the basis of scaled marks rather than raw marks. Next April, the estimate process will be moderated against the 2024 HSC results and calculated for the best ten units for each student, including the mandatory two units of English.

At this stage of the year, every Year 11 student faces a choice, some have more choices to make than others. Will I do 12 units, 11, ten or less? For those students who have a guaranteed entrance into Extension 2 mathematics, they can drop two courses immediately (Extension English and a 2-unit course) and still have ten units to present at the HSC. Students who really want to exit a course and have made the rank cut–off for extension 1 mathematics, can keep their Extension English and drop a course. Most accelerants remain doing ten units until their HSC results in the acceleration course are published. Acceleration students have a choice to reduce their load to 8 units if they believe their HSC marks for their completed acceleration course are high enough, but we urge them not to do so until the April Assessment period in Year 12, in order to make certain that they are doing the best thing to maximise their ATAR. Students qualifying and choosing to do four units of English can drop one course. High performing students tend to use acceleration results as insurance and do ten units for the HSC anyway. Others want to be rid of a weak course and explore choosing others – eg picking up one or two-unit studies of religion, or taking an extension unit in history, music or LOTE. Some love all their courses and want to carry 12 units to the HSC. I have no problem with that choice provided that their tertiary course has a lower entrance requirement than their current ATAR prediction and that they are well organised enough to do well in twelve units. Students I speak to when discussing their reports are thoughtful about their strengths and weaknesses and mindful of their preferred tertiary options. Pragmatism often informs their decisions. At this important time, future tertiary intentions are important considerations. Choices are made to maximise enjoyment, ATAR ranks or both. I hope all Year 11 students choose sagely.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal